Office of Research, Innovation and Collaboration (ORIC)

College of Education and Human Ecology

child development

Crane Research Forum: Grappling With and Reconciling History to Improve Child Care Access (Zoom)

Join the Crane Center for a very special research forum in partnership with Ohio State’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity during which Dr. Chrishana M. Lloyd will examine why the early care and education field is devalued and underfunded.

Dr. Chrishana M. Lloyd, research scholar at Child Trends

Research consistently notes the value of early care and education for children’s development, parental stability, and the productivity of the country. Despite these benefits, navigating early care and education in the United States is a challenging endeavor. There is considerable fragmentation and variability in early care and education systems, access to high quality and affordable care is limited, and pay is low for the workforce. During this research forum, Dr. Chrishana M. Lloyd will facilitate understanding about why the early care and education field is devalued and underfunded using a historical and equity lens. Dr. Lloyd will also share policy and practice recommendations to address these challenges.

Dr. Lloyd is a nationally recognized expert on the challenges facing the early child care and education sector. Drawing from the social sciences and education fields and through a racial equity lens, Dr. Lloyd integrates research findings and policy in ways that improve high-quality and equitable practices to deliver positive impact to communities.

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Crane Research Forum: The Double-Edged Sword of AI Use: Implications for Early Childhood Education (Zoom)

Join us virtually for the October Crane Research Forum as Dr. Jennifer Chen discusses the positive and negative aspects of utilizing artificial intelligence for early childhood education and children’s learning.

Dr. Jennifer Chen, professor and chair of the Department of Early Childhood Education at Kean University

With the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) use, it is important to examine how AI intersects with early child care and education. In this session, Dr. Jennifer Chen will explore both the positive and negative aspects of utilizing AI for teaching and children’s learning, with a focus on its appropriate, responsible, and ethical use, while also recognizing concerns about its misuse and overuse. This examination will lead to a discussion of the potential implications of AI for early childhood education, including promoting equitable access to AI for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Dr. Chen earned her doctorate in human development and psychology from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Her research interests lie at the intersection of early childhood education and psychology, and her recent work has shifted to fostering better understanding of AI and its implications for education. Dr. Chen is highly respected as a scholar both internationally and nationally and has authored or co-authored more than 80 scholarly publications, including three books. She is an award-winning researcher, a distinguished scholar and professor, and a research mentor. She was recently honored with a 2023 Outstanding Early Childhood Teacher Educator award from the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators Foundation.

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Crane Research Forum: Rebuilding After COVID-19: Does School-Based Pre-K Hold Promise? (Virtual)

Join us virtually for the September Crane Research Forum as Dr. Lora Cohen-Vogel, Dr. Michael Gottfried, and Dr. Michael Little discuss the role of school-based pre-kindergarten in the future of early childhood education in the U.S.

Dr. Lora Cohen-Vogel holds multiple appointments at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including the Frank A. Daniels, Jr. Endowed Chair, professor of Public Policy and Education, and director of the PhD program in Policy, Leadership and School Improvement and the Interprofessional Graduate Certificate in Improvement Science and Implementation

Dr. Michael Gottfried, professor of Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems Division at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Michael Little, assistant professor of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis at North Carolina State University

Early pandemic-related research shows that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are both highly localized and not born equally, with children of color, dual language learners, and children from families with low incomes more negatively affected. As policymakers consider how to invest in shoring up — and in some places rebuilding altogether — the early child care and education sector, it is important to guard against risk and inequities in the face of future pandemics and other potential shocks.

In this presentation, Drs. Cohen-Vogel, Gottfried, and Little examine the role of school-based pre-kindergarten (SBPK) in these efforts. SBPK are formal pre-K programs that are situated within elementary schools, as opposed to stand-alone early education centers. The talk will cover which communities offer SBPK options, who has access, how these options are unique, and research on their relative efficacy. Additionally, the presenters will discuss the potential role of SBPK moving ahead.

Dr. Lora Cohen-Vogel is an expert in vertical alignment between pre-K and kindergarten who has extensive experience using research on policy formation for system improvement. Dr. Michael Gottfried’s work centers on improving children’s outcomes by examining how policies, practices, and contexts promote or block their success. Dr. Michael Little’s research focuses on how leadership and policy impact the bridge between early childhood education and the early grades of school. They are currently collaborating on a federally funded grant to examine whether SBPK programs improve alignment with kindergarten.

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W.K. Kellogg Foundation Information Session (Zoom)

On Tuesday, April 20, at 10:00AM we will provide an overview of the mission of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, their priority to improve access to high quality, early childhood education, and how to submit a Letter of Intent. The Kellogg Foundation’s goal is lasting, transformational change for children. Their three areas of focused work are dynamic and always interconnected:

  • Thriving Children
  • Working Families
  • Equitable Communities

REGISTER FOR THE KELLOGG SESSION USING THIS LINK 

The Birth-to-Five Policy Landscape: Improving the safety net for our children and their caregivers

Join the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs for a special, in-person only, policy chat featuring Dr. Lauren Jones.
Dr. Lauren Jones will discuss important federal and state policy tools aimed at improving the well-being of children and their caregivers, including the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, subsidized child care, child care regulation and quality. The discussion will highlight current issues and opportunities in this policy space, research on the impact of the programs, and how the Crane Center’s policy team is engaging with states to inform research-based policy-making to benefit our youngest citizens and those who care for them.
What to expect: Crane Policy Chats provide opportunities to discuss and learn about policy issues in early childhood. Hosted by Jamie O’Leary, Crane’s associate director of policy and external affairs, these conversations feature guests who share insights, research, and expertise in a conversational format that resembles a podcast. Participants have ample opportunity to offer comments, ask questions, and consider ways they can apply insights or lessons.
Parking: The closest parking is nearby at the Ohio Union South Garage.

Effects on Early Child Outcomes of Shared Parental Responsiveness Among Fathers and Mothers Living in Households with Low Income

Headshot of Dr. Joyce Lee

 

Dr. Joyce Lee, assistant professor of social work at The Ohio State University and director of the Child and Family Wellbeing Laboratory

 

Responsive relationships are important in young children’s early development, but the ways in which fathers and mothers work together as a system — as well as the role of shared parental responsiveness in child development — are not well understood. In this presentation, Dr. Joyce Lee will discuss findings on the effects of shared parental responsiveness between fathers and mothers in low-income households on preschoolers’ developmental outcomes. The specific developmental outcomes studied include children’s behavior problems, prosocial behaviors and receptive language.

Dr. Lee’s research aims to promote child welfare and family strengthening through preventing child maltreatment, supporting positive parenting and promoting the health of children in foster care. Her work is intended to inform child welfare policies and practices to improve children’s health outcomes and strengthen children’s relationships with their family members.

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Beyond Learning Loss: Exploring the Implications of COVID for Early Language and Literacy Development (Zoom)

Headshot of Dr. Elizabeth Hadley

 

Dr. Elizabeth Hadley, associate professor of literacy studies at the University of South Florida

 

Learning experiences in the early grades play a crucial role in preparing children to be strong readers, writers and thinkers across content areas. What happens when these early learning experiences are disrupted? In a longitudinal study, Dr. Elizabeth Hadley followed children, whose pre-kindergarten year was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, through the end of first grade, investigating the impacts of COVID on their language and literacy development. In this presentation, Dr. Hadley will explore implications of findings from this research, including the extent to which state-funded pre-K supports children’s language and literacy skills and which kinds of language and literacy skills are impacted most when children lose access to in-person instruction.

Dr. Hadley’s work centers on intentionally and equitably fostering language and early literacy development in pre-K classrooms, especially for children from marginalized communities and from families experiencing poverty. Dr. Hadley has been published in top journals and won awards including the Early Career Award from the Early Education/Child Development SIG from the American Educational Research Association.

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Assessing Young Multilingual Learners’ Language Development (Zoom)

Headshot of Dr. Becky Huang

 

Dr. Becky Huang, Crane faculty associate and professor of multilingual language education at The Ohio State University

 

Due to globalization and immigration trends, the number of children growing up learning more than one language has been growing rapidly around the world. The increase in this population comes with the parallel need for fair and effective assessment of their multilingual development. In this talk, Dr. Becky Huang will focus on students ages 4 to 13, corresponding to kindergarten to eighth grade in the U.S. education system. Assessments of students’ language development also have strong relevance and implications for education. Dr. Huang will first discuss the myths related to assessing this population, and then address the challenges of assessing young multilinguals. The talk will end with a discussion of the future of multilingual assessment, considering the roles of technology such as artificial intelligence, and the application of translanguaging in assessing young multilinguals.

Dr. Huang’s goal in her work is to promote language and education outcomes for multilingual students. Her research areas of applied linguistics, psychology and education combine to focus on two key areas: language/literacy development and assessment of multilingual students. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Health, the Institute of Education Sciences and the U.S. Department of Education, and she serves on the editorial board for several journals.

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QualLab Lunchtime Lecture Series: Manageable Subjects: Trans Childhoods and Civic Learning in the Elementary Classroom (Zoom)

The QualLab is excited to welcome Dr. Harper Keenan, inaugural Robert Quartermain Professor of Gender and Sexuality Research in Education at the University of British Columbia, for our first QualLab Lunch of 2024! Join us on Thursday, January 18, 2024, noon – 1 P.M, for Dr. Keenan’s lecture on “Unmanageable Subjects: Trans Childhoods and Civic Learning in the Elementary Classroom.” Registration is open now.

In this lecture, Dr. Keenan discusses the epistemological and pedagogical impacts of positioning trans people as unmanageable subjects within the context of K-12 schools in the United States. This talk invites participants to grapple with two focal questions:
How might educators and scholars embrace this unmanageability? What might it look like to practice civic education that resists rigidly scripting the world, including who children can be and become within it?

New Crane Policy Chat: Child care in rural communities (Zoom)

Join us for our first Crane Policy Chat, a one-hour conversation with an expert guest who will share insights, research, or expertise on relevant policy issues in early childhood.

Our first policy chat will feature Dr. Shoshanah Inwood, associate professor of rural sociology at OSU, who will join us for a virtual conversation and Q&A about the recent U.S. Farm Bill and rural child care challenges. This major federal legislation defines the nation’s food production policy and federal assistance for farmers, and its inclusion of child care as a priority is historic. If passed, the bill will open access to rural child care options for U.S. farmers and could pave the way for future proposals to prioritize child care.

Dr. Inwood, a former farmer herself, will share her research that brought this issue to the forefront and how she helped the U.S. Congress understand its importance. This conversation will be facilitated with Jamie O’Leary, Crane’s associate director of policy and external affairs.

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